The Next Suez Canal

Global warming has long since been a buzz word. With people crying at the top of their lungs on both sides of the debate: Is Global Warming real? There are those that say it exists but its not manmade, other say it’s our own fault. Regardless of your position, things are changing in our world as the temperature rises. One major change is the polar ice caps are melting. This has brought about an interesting consequence that could have a huge impact on our lives. The ice has melted so much that it has opened up a passage way that a few freighters from the company Beluga have started shipping though!

This part of the Arctic was once thought to be impassible even by smaller boats because where ships are sail through now used to be miles of solid ice 100’s of feet thick. All boats from Japan to Rotterdam, the largest port in all of Europe and the 6th largest metropolitan area in Europe, once had to around China, India, through the Suez canal to get there.

The trip took about 13,000 miles to get from Japan to Rotterdam, with this new route, it will take about 8,400 miles! It will be interesting to see if this also bring up any national security issues for Russia or the EU. This canal, while is a few years off from stealing the Suez’s business, is simply the largest leap in shipping in a very very long time.

What is more, is that by 2015, they expect this passage’s ice to have all but disappeared. Hundreds of miles of thick ice will have melted by then, allowing ships to pass easily. The question is: where does all that water go? Read here about how 20 million people have already been displaced by rising seas in China.